Police officer candidates put to tests in Harborcreek

Saturday

About 150 candidates participated in the tests, which many area police departments use to hire new officers.

Victoria Stewart used to study ways of extracting minerals out of the ground.

On Saturday, the 25-year-old Summit Township woman was on the ground at Harbor Creek High School's Paul J. Weitz Stadium, cranking out sit-ups and push-ups. Stewart also ran and jumped as part of a physical agility test for people who wanted to become police officers.

"I was at Penn State, studying mining engineering when people started recommending to me that I should be a police officer," said Stewart, who now attends the Municipal Police Training Academy at Mercyhurst University. "They kept telling me I am good with people."

About 150 candidates participated in the tests, which were held at 6 and 9:30 a.m. at the high school. Candidates who passed the physical test moved on to the written test, which was held at Penn State Behrend at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The physical agility test included a vertical jump, push-ups, sit-ups, a 300-meter dash and a 1.5-mile run. Candidates were required to reach a set number or time to continue.

"We use a 300-meter run because that distance helps us measure a person's ability to work on their second energy system," said Bill Gibson, CEO of Gibson Associates, a Harrisburg company that conducted the tests for the Mercyhurst University Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Police Testing Consortium. "The 1.5-mile run gets them into a third energy system, known as the Krebs cycle. It shows us if they have the ability to perform tasks like giving CPR for three minutes."

It was the first year the test involved candidates for jobs on the Erie Bureau of Police. Erie had previously done its own police testing and generated a new hiring list every two years.

Erie City Council approved a resolution in early April allowing the city to enter into a cooperative agreement with Mercyhurst to test candidates for the city's police force through the consortium. The consortium, which was created in 2014, provides police testing for 26 law enforcement agencies in the Erie region, including the Millcreek Township and Corry police departments, the Erie County Prison and sheriff's offices in Erie, Venango and Warren counties.

"The candidates will be placed on a list, sorted by how they performed on the written test," said Bill Hale, academy director. "It's a raw list. Some police departments award extra points for veterans. We ask candidates if they are a veteran but we won't assign any points."

Mercyhurst has provided police candidate testing for Millcreek Township police for several years, and Chief Scott Heidt said he has been satisfied with the results. He said there are a few upcoming retirements on the Millcreek police force, and the department will use Saturday's test to put together an eligibility list for 2019.

Erie officials said when the idea of joining the consortium was proposed earlier this year that doing so would save the city about $5,000, and the savings could be used for minority recruitment efforts. City officials also said that testing through the consortium would generate a list of police candidates to hire every year, as opposed to the two-year testing cycle the city operated under.

The list of police candidates generated from Saturday's test won't become effective until September, Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny said. It's not known when Erie might hire from the new list, he said.

Erie most recently hired six new police officers on July 19 to fill five retirements and one upcoming retirement on the 173-member force.

Zach Barrett, a 21-year-old Girard Township man who graduated from Mercyhurst's academy in December 2017, took the test for the second straight year.

"I didn't get hired last year, so I'm back," Barrett said. "I'd like to get in with Erie or Millcreek."

Hale said he believes the inclusion of the Erie Bureau of Police in the consortium's testing helped increase the number of people who applied to take Saturday's test. There were about 100 applicants for the 2017 test, and somewhere between 175 to 180 who applied for Saturday's test.

"It makes the pool nice and big," Hale said.

Another test is scheduled for 2019.

Tim Hahn can be reached at 870-1731 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNhahn.

David Bruce can be reached at 870-1736 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNbruce.

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